Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

zeupater

silverwhistle said:

I can mitigate the impact on myself as a private individual and indeed have done so, although as yet I have not organised a V2L lead for my car! I can slightly reduce the event likelihood by reducing my peak usage, but at the macro level we have idiots in charge who are actually hampering the efforts of the professionals.

When I read an article about the recent party conference and some local councillor is likening Boris Johnson to Mother Teresa I can only despair..

Hi

To some extent, that's likely the same for a good proportion reading this board, however, walk around an average built up area (or zoom in on g00gle earth) and check how much roof space is covered with glass or how many have windmills in their back garden & the percentage reliance on the grid quickly becomes apparent ... moreover, the majority of microgeneration sites you can actually see don't have any form of storage or the ability to generate if power provision was to be withdrawn on a rolling basis during daylight hours ...  

I tend to agree about the idiots vs professionals, but then again there's plenty of 'professionals' driving an agenda for themselves or others with vested interests too .... quite often there are also those that don't sit back, look at the greater picture and try identify potential issues which could spring up just out of view if their focus is too narrowly maintained.

HTH - Z  

silverwhistle

Yep, I'm aware that my microgeneration is stuffed (the technical term apparently) if we have daylight rolling cuts! But I still won't suffer too much and my bicycle, tool, car and LED lighting batteries will all be fully charged. Plenty of seasoned wood too, a Kelly kettle and a wood burning pizza stove means I won't want for food or a cuppa!

The number of books on my shelves that need reading and my wind instruments that need practicing means I won't lack for entertainment and in fact I don't even have a TV to miss.

But my point was more that I'm OK but worried about those that aren't, and feeling helpless about this wider perspective.

zeupater

silverwhistle said:

[ ... ]

But my point was more that I'm OK but worried about those that aren't, and feeling helpless about this wider perspective.

Hi

Totally agree, if there was no electricity for 10 days or even a month or two, we'd probably be able to cope in our property without too much hardship, even over winter ... might be a little aromatic at the end, but that's for others to worry about ...  

My main gripe is that there's been far too much focus on too few technologies and too many of those technologies subject to focus are storage related as opposed to primary generation ... without reliable generation the amount of storage to invest in simply becomes a moot point if looking at the issue from a strategic basis as it will always be subject to the possibility of depletion. This reality simply dictates that it's primary generation that needs to be subjected to both focus & diversification so at least a minimum (whatever that is deemed to be!) supply can be made available, even if that means the occasional rationing of electrons to non-essential demands .... the issue then is why this most obvious point is overlooked by those responsible for planning for such situations and why/how they're always allowed to employ a Teflon shield to ensure that accountability doesn't stick to their career paths ...  

Sorry to keep harping on about what effectively comes down to politics, but when it's down to politicians to drive & monitor the change necessary to achieve the goals they themselves set, you'd at least think that some of them would be keeping their eyes on what's actually being done & look for the potential minefields that are being sown in their names before everything blows up in their faces! 

HTH - Z

silverwhistle

Of course it's politics! I thought it was the art of the possible but we currently have a party in power whose view is more "what's the minimum we can get away with", and if I were being less generous "what's the most destructive course of action"?

The latest rubbish about PV on poor quality farm land, the history of obstructing onshore wind, the lack of CfDs for solar, the lowering of building standards, the ignoring of public transport.. Sometimes you get the impression our PM and team are sleeper agents for a foreign power.

gefnew

This looks like a bit of a punt by these chaps.
Trecwn: Statkraft aims to make green hydrogen at ex-arms depot - BBC News

zeupater

gefnew said:

This looks like a bit of a punt by these chaps.
Trecwn: Statkraft aims to make green hydrogen at ex-arms depot - BBC News

So they're looking at ~3 Tonnes per day (article), that's ~100MWh, not bad for starters, especially so when they're mainly a developer/operator of on-shore wind farms, including one ~20miles east of the site mentioned, so useful to soak up excess/cheap generation.

The issue arises when you look at the company's website where everything is described at 'up to' and upper limit performances are used, for example ... "It is estimated that the 15MW hydrogen plant will generate up to 4 tonnes of hydrogen a day, the equivalent of powering a single bus for over 40,000 miles." ... fine, but from what I've read over the years hydrogen fuel cell powered bus fleets average closer to 3miles/kg with 4 only being expected in ideal conditions, so read that as being slow & long journeys on the flat with no stops ... not really the kind of journey an average bus is intended for! ....

I know that companies looking for support & financial backing have an interest in dressing their offerings up to make them more attractive, but the question is, considering all of the previous times that technology performance have failed to meet expectations, resulting in both disappointment & lower financial & emission based savings, why are overinflated claims  still allowed and not classified as a form of deception? ... when will someone stand up and demand the performance/return basis for such things should be based on 'typical' as opposed to 'up to', after all, the automotive industry had to be dragged (screaming!) towards being more transparent on everything from MPG to emissions and even pricing, proving it can be done!

Anyway, note for Mart .... the company seems to be looking for local input into their plans ... https://www.statkraft.co.uk/projects/Trecwn-en/ ... if interested ... 

HTH - Z 

70sbudgie

When it comes to science, engineering and technology, I believe we actually have a wealth of solutions already available to us, to solve many of the current issues. The only reason there hasn't really been any "fixing" is totally due to politics. 

There is also a large and significant part of the puzzle you've not mentioned @zeupater and that is transmission and distribution. I completely agree that the popular topic of storage isn't going to solve anything if we don't have enough generation (which we don't). But the other big issue is that the generation is predominantly in a different part of this island to the demand and politics (again) has an impact on matching them up. 

The National Grid Regional Customer Connections videos make for some depressing viewing if you want to connect new generation.

Coastalwatch

Another interconnector proposal linking Africa and Europe, scheduled for completion in 2028.

Subsea cable to bring wind, solar power from Egypt to Europe

Copelouzos Group plans to lay a submarine cable to link 9.5 GW of wind and solar power in Egypt to Greece’s Attica region. The project was recently included in the Entso-E 10-year development plan.

The 700 MW cable will facilitate the transmission of 9.5 GW of wind and solar power in Egypt to the Greece-Italy and Greece-Bulgaria electricity transmission networks. It will be deployed at a maximum sea depth of 2,527 meters.

“The project is expected to allow renewable energy exports from Egypt to Greece at times of high renewable enery generation and also vice versa contributing to a significant increase of participation of renewables in the energy mix and reduction of greenhouse emissions of the power sector,” Entso-E said on its website.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/10/12/subsea-cable-to-bring-wind-solar-power-from-egypt-to-europe/

Martyn1981

Hiya CW. Looks like we are seeing the Desertec idea of linking Europe and MENA, happening if not by accident, then by economics. Great stuff.

700MW is slightly more than 10% of Greece's average leccy demand, not a bad bit of backup. 

2nd_time_buyer

Interesting article in the Guardian from closet environmentalist Jacob Rees Mogg. It seems our cycnism of the fracking announcement to distract from the relaxing in planning for onshore wind was well founded.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/13/green-energy-guardian-reader-growth-net-zero-liz-truss-jacob-rees-mogg